Above photo: Steve Eberhardt/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom.
Atlanta, GA – In a surprising but significant turn of events, on September 24, Georgia prosecutors have dropped all 15 counts of money laundering against three prominent activists involved in the “Stop Cop City” movement.
These activists – Marlon Kautz, Adele MacLean and Savannah Patterson – are leaders of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), a bail fund that has supported protesters opposing the construction of a controversial police training facility in Atlanta. While the trio still faces racketeering charges, the dismissal of the money laundering allegations nevertheless marks a victory against state repression and exposes the cracks in the state’s legal strategy.
The decision by Deputy Attorney General John Fowler to drop the charges came just before a scheduled hearing, leaving many to question the state’s aggressive pursuit of protest leaders under bogus pretenses. This retreat signals the real function of the state’s case against the Stop Cop City protesters, which is the political repression of a people’s struggle against police crimes.
From the start, Georgia’s prosecution of the Stop Cop City activists has exposed the criminally repressive character of both state and local government officials. The movement, which began as a grassroots effort to prevent the construction of a massive, 85-acre police training facility in a forested area of DeKalb County, was portrayed by the state as a criminal enterprise. In reality, the protests against the construction of Cop City were met with anti-democratic repression and violence from police.
Prosecutors accused ASF leaders of funneling charitable funds to support violent protests and sabotage of the facility’s construction. However, the so-called evidence amounted to paltry sums, such as $93 for camping supplies and $12 for kitchen materials – purchases hardly resembling the insidious criminal conspiracy the state would have the public believe.
The narrative spun by state officials, particularly Attorney General Chris Carr, tries to frame the largely decentralized protest movement as a highly organized criminal conspiracy. This false characterization was aimed at criminalizing protest entirely, and the ASF’s alleged “money-laundering” was leaned on heavily by prosecutors to tie the whole narrative together. By dropping the money laundering charges, prosecutors tacitly acknowledged that this aspect of their case was too weak to plausibly argue in front of a jury.
While the state insists that the racketeering charges remain, this retreat over alleged money laundering shines a spotlight on the broader, troubling pattern of repression employed against the Stop Cop City movement. Georgia’s unprecedented use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO – traditionally reserved for prosecuting organized crime – is a clear escalation aimed at stifling protest and political dissent. More than 60 people, including the ASF leaders, still face these sweeping charges. In Georgia, RICO laws that are typically used to target mob bosses have been used against community activists.
The case against the ASF and other protest leaders is emblematic of how state authorities use exaggerated charges to silence political opposition. As activists have raised concerns over environmental degradation and further militarization of police, Georgia officials have resorted to intimidation tactics, raids on activists’ homes, surveillance and interference with the financial resources of community organizations.
Marlon Kautz, one of the ASF leaders, stated that the dropped charges “do nothing to undo the harm to us and to the many political protesters whose lives have already been drastically impacted.” Indeed, the financial and emotional toll has been immense for activists in Atlanta already, with donations to the ASF blocked and banks treating them like criminals for their activism.
But the struggle continues. Tens of thousands of residents have signed petitions demanding a referendum on the Cop City project, yet their efforts have been stonewalled by city officials. Demonstrators continue to raise their voices at city council meetings and local demonstrations, particularly those protesting the rampant police crimes and heinous conditions at Fulton County Jail.
Georgia’s aggressive prosecution of activists in the Stop Cop City case is part of a larger trend across the U.S., where the state increasingly treats protest movements as threats to national security rather than expressions of democratic dissent.